Decorate Your Gerbils' Tank With Leftover Wrapping Paper

One of the gerbil Christmas tips I posted yesterday is a pretty big project, so this morning, I thought I'd share something simpler that you can do for your gerbils this holiday weekend.

Almost everyone has leftover scraps of wrapping paper lying around at this time of year. Hang onto some of the small pieces of wrapping paper that are left, because you can tape them to the back side of your gerbils' tank as a decoration and help your gerbils celebrate the holidays!

In this photo, you can see Nellie and Maeby enjoying their festive snowman tank background. :)

If you have a great tip for holiday decorations or gifts for your gerbils, please send them to me, and I might use them on the blog this week!

Herman With Sebastian :)

I haven't posted any updates about Herman or his son Sebastian in a while. The pups have been growing up so fast! In fact, the photo to the right is already out of date. Sebastian is much larger now! If the weather cooperates, Herman and Sebastian will be coming home next weekend! I can't wait to see Herman again, and I'm so anxious to meet Sebastian!

A Holiday Craft Project For Your Gerbils!

Why not let your gerbils help you decorate this Christmas? You've probably made paper snowflakes before, but did you know that your gerbils can make paper snowflakes, too?

Just check out our page on Gerbil Snowflakes for instructions!

The photo to the left is a paper snowflake that Grace and Tori made this weekend, and the video clip below is of Grace and Tori, hard at work making their paper snowflake. :)

A Christmas Idea For Your Gerbils!

We'll be posting lots of ideas for helping your gerbils celebrate the holidays this weekend. We'll start with a craft project that we posted last winter. You can use empty rolls of wrapping paper tubes, paper towel tubes, and toilet paper tubes to make a great Christmas tree for your gerbils. Don't expect it to last long, though. Your gerbils will have a great time chewing through their new Christmas gift!

Thank You, Carol!

Carol sent this great Christmas photo of her gerbils for the Gerbil Picture Of The Week. Thanks, Carol, for sending this photo and for wishing everyone who visits Twin Squeaks a Merry Christmas!

By the way, we had problems with our email address for gerbil photos for a while, but it is working again now! We'd love to see your gerbil photos and possibly use them on our Web site! :)

A New Gerbil Tip Is Online!

I meant to post about this on the blog a few days ago, but it slipped my mind. We have a new gerbil tip posted.

This time, we have an idea for how to keep your gerbils' water bottle from bouncing around and leaking into the bedding if you have to take your gerbils somewhere in your car. Thanks to Michele Rush of Double Star Kennels for this great tip!

Mike Is Not Amused

This is a photo that I took this summer, but it's definitely worth sharing. I was trying to get a good photo of Mike for the AGS Virtual Show, and at one point, he just got bored with the whole photography session. The photo to the left is Mike looking bored with the photography and very unamused. ;)

First Video Of Herman & His Pups

Jo from Black Wolf Clan Gerbils sent this short video clip of one of Herman's pups. I think this pup is Sebastian, the one I'm adopting. You can see Herman and the other spotted nutmeg pup in the background. :)

A Portrait Of Hope With Me

I just love this photo of me and Hope, because we're both looking up at the camera. Hope gave me a little bit of a scare last night when she didn't feel well for a bit, but a short time later, she was up running around like her usual self. Thank goodness! At her age (almost 4 years), you don't take anything for granted! In fact, my friend Libby from Shawsheen River Gerbils has a gerbil age calculator that shows that tomorrow Hope will turn 99 years old in gerbil years. What a tremendous life she's had! She's come so far since I found her at the humane society several years ago!

Herman's Family Photo

Jo from Black Wolf Clan Gerbils sent a photo last night that I just love. (My gerbil Herman has been vacationing in Missouri with Jo since mid-October. He's raising a family with Jo's gerbil Kadence, and he'll be returning home to Twin Squeaks at the end of the month with his new son Sebastian.)

The photo to the right is the first good photo of Herman's entire family. You can see Herman in the nest with the pups, and Kadence is in the photo, too. Aren't they a beautiful little family? :)

Sebastian Is The Latest Member Of Twin Squeaks!

We know which of Herman's pups are male and which are female, so I could pick out which one would come home with Herman! I chose the little spotted nutmeg male. I've tentatively named him Sebastian. The photo to the right is of Sebastian that was taken last Monday. He's a bit larger and has a little bit more fur now. :)

A Simple Fix For A Gerbil Wheel

Grace and Tori kept knocking over their exercise wheel and banging it against the glass.


I fixed the problem by using several twist ties to hang Grace and Tori's wheel from the lid.

I will also post this on the tips page sometime, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a little tip with you.

Some gerbils are happy to just run in their wheels. Other gerbils seem to be obsessed with chewing on the base of their wheels and knocking them over. Grace and Tori both like running in their wheel, but unfortunately, Grace also enjoys knocking the wheel over, chewing on its base, and banging it into the side of the tank.

This gets old very quickly. A wheel going “BANG! BANG! BANG!” against the side of the glass makes you really appreciate how not-so-noisy a squeaky exercise wheel is!!

Well, this morning, Grace was at it again. She had the wheel tipped on its side, and she kept lifting the base and knocking it against the glass.

I decided that enough was enough, and I fixed the problem. All I did was take a few twist ties (like the kind that you can use to close a bread bag), and I used them to hang the exercise wheel from the lid. Now Grace and Tori can run in their wheel, and I don't have to listen to them knock it over and bang it against the side of the tank anymore!

Herman & Kadence's Pups

It's been a very long day here, so this will just be a short message tonight. Just wanted to share the latest photo of Herman's pups. Jo sent this picture of the six cuties this morning. :)

Looks like there's one dark-eyed honey, two nutmegs, two spotted nutmegs, and either a polar fox or a silver nutmeg. Lots of beautiful little pups! I still haven't decide which one will come home with Herman at the end of the month. I'm very excited about welcoming Herman and one of his sons home, though!

New Gerbil Picture Of The Week

We have a new Gerbil Picture of the Week. This week's photo comes from Garden of Eden Gerbils and is of a pair of gerbils at the 2007 Midwest Gerbil Show.

If you have a photo of your gerbils that you'd like to see on the Gerbil Picture Of The Week page, please email it to us for consideration!

Gerbil-Related Christmas Gifts

Just a quick reminder that we have a few Christmas gifts in the Twin Squeaks Gerbil Shop. We are offering the Santa Paws Gerbil Christmas Mug again this year, and we also have several gifts with the Gerbil Christmas Wreath design, including the Gerbil's First Christmas Ornament and a set of Blank-Inside Gerbil Christmas Cards.

As always, there are quite a few other gerbil-releated gifts in the Twin Squeaks Gerbil Shop.

More Pictures Of Herman's Kids

Jo (from Black Wolf Clan Gerbils) sent more photos of Herman and Kaden's pups. Their fur is starting to come in now!

It's very exciting to start to figure out what colors the pups will be. It looks like we'll have some nutmegs, a couple of dark-eyed honeys, and one pup who is probably a polar fox or a silver nutmeg. Two of the pups are spotted.

I'm still trying to decide on a name for the pup I keep. I'm thinking about naming him Pee-Wee, because he's a little Herman. Plus, then I would have Pee-Wee and Herman. ;)

I probably won't pick a name until I know which pup is coming home with Herman. Since I don't want to breed and just want to keep gerbils as pets, I need to make sure that Herman comes home with a son. The pups aren't old enough yet to tell which are male and which are female. But pretty soon I'll be able to figure out which pup is coming back with Herman to Twin Squeaks.